Frederick Bailey Deeming was convicted of the murder of Emily Mather and hanged in Australia. Dinham Villa in Rainhill was demolished. The Rainhill victims were interred in the graveyard of St. Ann's Church. Sadly, the headstone marking their grave was stolen, thus it is now unmarked.

Dinham Villa was definitely demolished soon after the inquest on the corpses of Deeming's wife and four children discovered under the hearthstone of the house. Deeming, by then in Australia, had also murdered the Rainhill girl he took as his next wife and buried her in his house outside of Melbourne, the crime for which he was hanged.

Deeming married his second wife, Miss Emily Mather, in Rainhill on 22 September 1891 two months after he had murdered his first wife, Marie, and his four children, aged eight and under – one of them an infant. It is thought that he killed them with a native battle ax while they were in bed then slit their throats. He then cemented them under the hearthstone of Dinham Villa. He even had the temerity to hold a wedding banquet in the murder house. On 17 October, he and his new wife sailed for Australia. Two months later, on Christmas Eve, he murdered Emily and cemented her remains under the hearthstone of their Windsor, Melbourne, home, but the rocky ground of Melbourne proved not so conducive to concealing his crimes as the damp, rich earth of Rainhill would prove.

After murdering Emily, Deeming traveled to Perth, Western Australia, under the alias of Baron Swanston. In this guise, one of his many pseudonyms, he proposed to another woman. Emily’s remains were found in Melbourne on 3 March after a smell had been noticed in the house. The killer was arrested on 11 March 1892 and extradited to Victoria to stand trial. News of the finding of the remains in Windsor, Melbourne, buried in cement was telegraphed to England where inquiries into his movements were begun.

Following a tip from a newsman, on 13 March, Superintendent Keighley of Widnes obtained permission to dig up the cement in Dinham Villa. Three days later, on 16 March, the five bodies were unearthed.

With the still unsolved Whitechapel murders in the minds of reporters, and given Deeming’s British connections, the press naturally theorised that he could have been Jack the Ripper:

The arrest of the man Deeming in Australia, and the disclosures of the various murders which are attributed to him have created the most profound sensation throughout the world. Greater interest is attached to the case as it is uncertain yet whether Deeming is not the veritable Jack the Ripper whose atrocities roused the public excitement to the highest pitch in 1888–91. (‘The Liverpool and Australia Murders. Is Deeming “Jack the Ripper”?’ The Daily Gleaner, 19 April 1892.)

Most students of the Ripper case don't think Deeming was the Ripper and it is believed that he was in South Africa at the time of the Whitechapel murders committed in the East End in August-November 1888. Nonetheless, Liverpool-born Ripper author Des McKenna, who died this April after a battle with cancer, favoured Deeming as a suspect, going against the tide of opinion. In a recent article on Deeming in the Whitechapel Journal 1888, Des asked, "Should he be so easily dismissed? He was perhaps the most inhuman ogre ever to stalk the corridor of nightmare."

Dinham Villa was definitely demolished soon after the inquest on the corpses of Deeming's wife and four children discovered under the hearthstone of the house. Deeming, by then in Australia, had also murdered the Rainhill girl he took as his next wife and buried her in his house outside of Melbourne, the crime for which he was hanged.

Deeming married his second wife, Miss Emily Mather, in Rainhill on 22 September 1891 two months after he had murdered his first wife, Marie, and his four children, aged eight and under – one of them an infant. It is thought that he killed them with a native battle ax while they were in bed then slit their throats. He then cemented them under the hearthstone of Dinham Villa. He even had the temerity to hold a wedding banquet in the murder house. On 17 October, he and his new wife sailed for Australia. Two months later, on Christmas Eve, he murdered Emily and cemented her remains under the hearthstone of their Windsor, Melbourne, home, but the rocky ground of Melbourne proved not so conducive to concealing his crimes as the damp, rich earth of Rainhill would prove.

After murdering Emily, Deeming traveled to Perth, Western Australia, under the alias of Baron Swanston. In this guise, one of his many pseudonyms, he proposed to another woman. Emily’s remains were found in Melbourne on 3 March after a smell had been noticed in the house. The killer was arrested on 11 March 1892 and extradited to Victoria to stand trial. News of the finding of the remains in Windsor, Melbourne, buried in cement was telegraphed to England where inquiries into his movements were begun.

Following a tip from a newsman, on 13 March, Superintendent Keighley of Widnes obtained permission to dig up the cement in Dinham Villa. Three days later, on 16 March, the five bodies were unearthed.

With the still unsolved Whitechapel murders in the minds of reporters, and given Deeming’s British connections, the press naturally theorised that he could have been Jack the Ripper:

The arrest of the man Deeming in Australia, and the disclosures of the various murders which are attributed to him have created the most profound sensation throughout the world. Greater interest is attached to the case as it is uncertain yet whether Deeming is not the veritable Jack the Ripper whose atrocities roused the public excitement to the highest pitch in 1888–91. (‘The Liverpool and Australia Murders. Is Deeming “Jack the Ripper”?’ The Daily Gleaner, 19 April 1892.)

Most students of the Ripper case don't think Deeming was the Ripper and it is believed that he was in South Africa at the time of the Whitechapel murders committed in the East End in August-November 1888. Nonetheless, Liverpool-born Ripper author Des McKenna, who died this April after a battle with cancer, favoured Deeming as a suspect, going against the tide of opinion. In a recent article on Deeming in the Whitechapel Journal 1888, Des asked, "Should he be so easily dismissed? He was perhaps the most inhuman ogre ever to stalk the corridor of nightmare."

Chris George

Thanks Chris
All very interesting stuff!
I for one don't think he was the Ripper...

Fredrick Deeming in New Zealand

Apparently Fredrick Deeming also came to New Zealand before going to Melbourne. I was brought up in Rainhill, but have lived in N.Z for the past 36 years. It came as a suprise to me when reading in our local Masterton paper a story about Fredrick Deeming with a reference to the Rainhill murders, and how he had spent a short time in Masterton which is situated about 120 km north of Wellington.

Emily Mather, Deeming's wife who was found murdered in Australia, was the daughter of a local newsagent in Rainhill - her mother's shop is still standing at the corner of View Road and Warrington Road, I think it was still a newsagents in recent years but I remember it being derelict for a long time:

Dinham Villa location

I thought this may be of interest. I superimposed the location of Dinham Villa (from the 1894 OS map) onto a contemporary satellite shot from Google maps - using Photoshop to wrap the cartographer's image accurately to the photo (i.e. lining the roads and landmarks up as near as possible). The original villa was located within the rectangle where I've increased the brightness.

I thought this may be of interest. I superimposed the location of Dinham Villa (from the 1894 OS map) onto a contemporary satellite shot from Google maps - using Photoshop to wrap the cartographer's image accurately to the photo (i.e. lining the roads and landmarks up as near as possible). The original villa was located within the rectangle where I've increased the brightness.

I realise this thread is more ancient than my Grandad's frying pan - but I used to live about a minute's walk from the site where the villa once stood. I spent my childhood in Rainhill and new nothing about the case!

He may not have been Jack the Ripper as some have alleged but the Public Record Office of Victoria, Australia, have done an extraordinary job of putting on-line documents and information about this fascinating murderer and con man.

The timing of Frederick Bailey Deeming's arrest and the sheer viciousness of his crimes led to him being in the frame for being the Ripper, but it would seem that Deeming's nefarious career was separate to Jack's.

Some newspapermen claimed that police were working on the theory that family murderer Deeming could also have been Jack the Ripper, as here in the Bristol Mercury and Daily Post, Saturday, March 26, 1892:
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Other reports though put the crimes in better perspective as in this report in The Graphic, Saturday, March 26, 1892
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Still the speculation continued. A graphic comparing Deeming and a suspect in the Ripper murders. Illustrated Police News, Saturday, April 16, 1892:
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Hi - I just found your forum searching for Dinham villa - I have something that might be of interest - my great uncle kept a railway crossing in lincolnshire and to practice his handwriting copied stuff out of the newspapers into a journal - included is this sketch of the house and where the bodies were found and a few other details...

Thanks for alerting us about your great uncle's journal about Dinham Villa and Frederick Bailey Deeming. Although the sketches were not original to him but were copied from the newspaper they are still of interest, I think, and might be valuable to a collector. If you don't mind, I am going to let a Ripperologist who lives in Hull know about the journal. Might I ask, are you resident in Lincolnshire, as your great uncle was, or elsewhere?

Thanks for alerting us about your great uncle's journal about Dinham Villa and Frederick Bailey Deeming. Although the sketches were not original to him but were copied from the newspaper they are still of interest, I think, and might be valuable to a collector. If you don't mind, I am going to let a Ripperologist who lives in Hull know about the journal. Might I ask, are you resident in Lincolnshire, as your great uncle was, or elsewhere?

All the best

Chris

Thank's a lot Chris!!!! after reading all those reports am I glad that i'm off until thursday? other wise I'll be checking behind me walking though the dark building with just my trusty batton oh sorry I meant my torch, now being a Whiston/Rainhill lad that made good reading

Hi - I just found your forum searching for Dinham villa - I have something that might be of interest - my great uncle kept a railway crossing in lincolnshire and to practice his handwriting copied stuff out of the newspapers into a journal - included is this sketch of the house and where the bodies were found and a few other details...

Hi all

On JTR Forums it appears that Howard Brown might have just posted the very newspaper article from which Richard Crooks' ancestor may have copied those images of the front elevation and plan of Dinham Villa. The article appeared in a supplement to the Manchester Courier, March 19, 1892.